Dylan Murray prepares for bigger stages

WhatsOnDec 20, 2012Waterloo Region Record

For Toronto singer-songwriter Dylan Murray, a lifetime commitment to music and the spiritual pursuit of fulfilling his dreams is coming to fruition. His debut record, Inspiration, will be released by Nelstar Records (and distributed by mega-label Warner), on January 8th of next year. Today, Murray is just getting his ducks in a row.

“Right now I’m working on getting my music to where I like it to be,” he told me over the phone. “I’m just ensconced in the whole musical vibration right now. It’s a journey I’ve been on for a while and I’m still keeping that going with the new people that I’m working with: Nelly Furtado, Chris Smith Management and Nelstar Records, the label that I’m on.”

Nelly Furtado and her vanity label (Nelstar) have been instrumental in getting Murray out of Toronto coffee-houses and into some major league venues.

“I hooked up with Nelly through a friend of mine,” he explained. “She came to a show and I was playing a new song called Trampoline, which is going to be on the new album. She was there and she loved it. She said that she thought it was magical and she wanted to record it. So we ended up recording it in Toronto and from there we started a musical business relationship. We recorded and recorded some more and just kept working away. This was maybe three years ago now — it’s crazy, it seems like even longer — and it’s been a long journey. We’ve done a lot of things since we first met.”

Murray had much to bring to their recording sessions. The inspired young man had been accumulating songs for years, and the opportunity to finally flesh them out and separate the gold from the mud was a major breakthrough. With the help of some producers, patience, and hard work, he soon found himself with dozens of potential album cuts.

“You know what? There were a hundred songs, and I think I recorded around fifty or so, but I was going through the songs that I’d written from now until then and I think I had about a hundred written down.

“I started off recording with the acoustic guitar and then from there, we took those and started working with producers, which was a whole new learning experience for me. Most of the songs were from even before I’d met my record label and the people that I’m working with. I had some that maybe nobody had heard and I had ones that fans had heard but a larger audience hadn’t had a chance to hear yet. So I don’t know if it’s that prolific, because they were written over many years.”

Murray’s soaring voice and laid-back, fluid reggae-folk music is tailor-made for small, acoustically warm rooms. There is an intimacy to his songs that may prove to be a challenge for Murray to convey as his audiences swell in size. Murray’s upcoming show at Kitchener’s Little Bean on Dec. 21 will be followed by an appearance at the Centre in the Square on Jan. 29, supporting his fiercest fan, Nelly Furtado. His days of thrilling tiny, rapt audiences may be coming to an end.

“(For) some singer-songwriters, like myself, (it’s about) giving the crowd what they want. I think it means being yourself and being that song. And enjoying yourself. If you’re up there on stage and you’re not enjoying it, then the person at the back of the room is probably not going to enjoy it as much as they could either. I think it’s just about making sure that you’re still loving it.

“It kind of is (a lonely man’s game), to be honest and that’s why I like having it as a team. Because I’m doing it to try to be able to take care of myself. I’m doing everything ‘music’ as much as I can.

Dylan Murray prepares for bigger stages

WhatsOnDec 20, 2012Waterloo Region Record

For Toronto singer-songwriter Dylan Murray, a lifetime commitment to music and the spiritual pursuit of fulfilling his dreams is coming to fruition. His debut record, Inspiration, will be released by Nelstar Records (and distributed by mega-label Warner), on January 8th of next year. Today, Murray is just getting his ducks in a row.

“Right now I’m working on getting my music to where I like it to be,” he told me over the phone. “I’m just ensconced in the whole musical vibration right now. It’s a journey I’ve been on for a while and I’m still keeping that going with the new people that I’m working with: Nelly Furtado, Chris Smith Management and Nelstar Records, the label that I’m on.”

Nelly Furtado and her vanity label (Nelstar) have been instrumental in getting Murray out of Toronto coffee-houses and into some major league venues.

“I hooked up with Nelly through a friend of mine,” he explained. “She came to a show and I was playing a new song called Trampoline, which is going to be on the new album. She was there and she loved it. She said that she thought it was magical and she wanted to record it. So we ended up recording it in Toronto and from there we started a musical business relationship. We recorded and recorded some more and just kept working away. This was maybe three years ago now — it’s crazy, it seems like even longer — and it’s been a long journey. We’ve done a lot of things since we first met.”

Murray had much to bring to their recording sessions. The inspired young man had been accumulating songs for years, and the opportunity to finally flesh them out and separate the gold from the mud was a major breakthrough. With the help of some producers, patience, and hard work, he soon found himself with dozens of potential album cuts.

“You know what? There were a hundred songs, and I think I recorded around fifty or so, but I was going through the songs that I’d written from now until then and I think I had about a hundred written down.

“I started off recording with the acoustic guitar and then from there, we took those and started working with producers, which was a whole new learning experience for me. Most of the songs were from even before I’d met my record label and the people that I’m working with. I had some that maybe nobody had heard and I had ones that fans had heard but a larger audience hadn’t had a chance to hear yet. So I don’t know if it’s that prolific, because they were written over many years.”

Murray’s soaring voice and laid-back, fluid reggae-folk music is tailor-made for small, acoustically warm rooms. There is an intimacy to his songs that may prove to be a challenge for Murray to convey as his audiences swell in size. Murray’s upcoming show at Kitchener’s Little Bean on Dec. 21 will be followed by an appearance at the Centre in the Square on Jan. 29, supporting his fiercest fan, Nelly Furtado. His days of thrilling tiny, rapt audiences may be coming to an end.

“(For) some singer-songwriters, like myself, (it’s about) giving the crowd what they want. I think it means being yourself and being that song. And enjoying yourself. If you’re up there on stage and you’re not enjoying it, then the person at the back of the room is probably not going to enjoy it as much as they could either. I think it’s just about making sure that you’re still loving it.

“It kind of is (a lonely man’s game), to be honest and that’s why I like having it as a team. Because I’m doing it to try to be able to take care of myself. I’m doing everything ‘music’ as much as I can.

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Dylan Murray prepares for bigger stages

WhatsOnDec 20, 2012Waterloo Region Record

For Toronto singer-songwriter Dylan Murray, a lifetime commitment to music and the spiritual pursuit of fulfilling his dreams is coming to fruition. His debut record, Inspiration, will be released by Nelstar Records (and distributed by mega-label Warner), on January 8th of next year. Today, Murray is just getting his ducks in a row.

“Right now I’m working on getting my music to where I like it to be,” he told me over the phone. “I’m just ensconced in the whole musical vibration right now. It’s a journey I’ve been on for a while and I’m still keeping that going with the new people that I’m working with: Nelly Furtado, Chris Smith Management and Nelstar Records, the label that I’m on.”

Nelly Furtado and her vanity label (Nelstar) have been instrumental in getting Murray out of Toronto coffee-houses and into some major league venues.

“I hooked up with Nelly through a friend of mine,” he explained. “She came to a show and I was playing a new song called Trampoline, which is going to be on the new album. She was there and she loved it. She said that she thought it was magical and she wanted to record it. So we ended up recording it in Toronto and from there we started a musical business relationship. We recorded and recorded some more and just kept working away. This was maybe three years ago now — it’s crazy, it seems like even longer — and it’s been a long journey. We’ve done a lot of things since we first met.”

Murray had much to bring to their recording sessions. The inspired young man had been accumulating songs for years, and the opportunity to finally flesh them out and separate the gold from the mud was a major breakthrough. With the help of some producers, patience, and hard work, he soon found himself with dozens of potential album cuts.

“You know what? There were a hundred songs, and I think I recorded around fifty or so, but I was going through the songs that I’d written from now until then and I think I had about a hundred written down.

“I started off recording with the acoustic guitar and then from there, we took those and started working with producers, which was a whole new learning experience for me. Most of the songs were from even before I’d met my record label and the people that I’m working with. I had some that maybe nobody had heard and I had ones that fans had heard but a larger audience hadn’t had a chance to hear yet. So I don’t know if it’s that prolific, because they were written over many years.”

Murray’s soaring voice and laid-back, fluid reggae-folk music is tailor-made for small, acoustically warm rooms. There is an intimacy to his songs that may prove to be a challenge for Murray to convey as his audiences swell in size. Murray’s upcoming show at Kitchener’s Little Bean on Dec. 21 will be followed by an appearance at the Centre in the Square on Jan. 29, supporting his fiercest fan, Nelly Furtado. His days of thrilling tiny, rapt audiences may be coming to an end.

“(For) some singer-songwriters, like myself, (it’s about) giving the crowd what they want. I think it means being yourself and being that song. And enjoying yourself. If you’re up there on stage and you’re not enjoying it, then the person at the back of the room is probably not going to enjoy it as much as they could either. I think it’s just about making sure that you’re still loving it.

“It kind of is (a lonely man’s game), to be honest and that’s why I like having it as a team. Because I’m doing it to try to be able to take care of myself. I’m doing everything ‘music’ as much as I can.